Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater Review

I consider Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater to be one of the best action games of all time. The 2004 release had everything: a badass protagonist, an iconic cast, and the ability to approach any mission with as much or as little stealth as preferred, and the legendary theme song. Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a remake of the legendary game, made with respect and appreciation for the original release; retaining Hideo Kojima’s finesse, even without him at the helm.

Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater follows the exact series of events from the original game, following Snake as he navigates a Soviet jungle to rescue a defecting scientist called Sokolov and destroy a nuclear weapon to prevent World War III. The narrative is much more complex than that, but to avoid spoilers for those who haven’t played the original, let’s just say Snake endures a lot during the 10-15 hour story, including betrayal, extremely hostile environments, a supernatural Cobra unit with unique abilities, and leeches.

The cast of characters is what makes MGS3’s story one that has impacted players across generations. In Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater, all voice lines are reused from the original release. Snake’s pragmatic personality, Ocelot’s arrogance, or The Boss’s stoic yet almost maternal tone of voice, the performances here are a defining moment in videogame history. In the remake, the legendary performances are enhanced even more thanks to the new character models that allow for more range in emotive facial animations.

Rebuilt in Unreal Engine 5, MGS Delta: Snake Eater looks nothing less than exceptional, bringing the familiar locations from MGS3 with crisp detail and environments that mesh with Snake’s clothing and skin realistically. Leaves will stick to Snake’s cargo pants when prone in the jungle, while mud will cover him head to toe after taking a bath in naturally polluted puddles. 

In terms of gameplay, the most notable addition to the game is the brand-new play style that removes the overhead camera from the original game and allows the whole experience to be played in a more modern third-person camera perspective (think The Last of Us). This new style fits perfectly, and that’s coming from someone who loves the original play style, too. Fortunately, you can easily swap between New Style and Legacy Style at any point in the game in the options menu. Snake can also crouch walk, too (yay!).

I did find at times the camera or movement didn’t cooperate with the new, third-person style, but this was minimal and rarely caused me to be killed. After testing both play styles out, it never felt like the game was developed with one in mind; both work fantastically with very little issues.

There are smaller, quality-of-life additions like the new quick menu that allows Snake to change his camouflage on the go or call his allies in a pinch. Snake’s signature Close Quarters Combat (CQC) also has new animations and feels more fluid and realistic than ever before.

Wounds sustained through the campaign are now permanently displayed on Snake’s body during gameplay sequences and cutscenes – even during the Call scenes. After I shot through a whole warehouse of enemies, Snake’s face and torso was covered in blood, and to my surprise, that carried through into my next call to Major Zero. 

As far as remakes go, Metal Gear Solid Delta: Snake Eater is a cut above the rest. I would compare it to Resident Evil 4’s recent remake, which also modernised the gameplay while paying tremendous respect to the original game. As someone who thinks MGS3 defined the action-game genre and cinematic storytelling in videogames, MGS Delta: Snake Eater is a must-play title, and one of the best action games of the year.